The Mid-Illinois Medical District of Springfield is considering support — including financing — for a 48-unit apartment complex targeted to students and employees at some of the city’s largest health care facilities.

First, the district needs a legal opinion.

“We’re not even sure we have the authority,” said Michael Boer, a member and former president of the medical district board.

Boer said the district asked for a legal ruling from the Illinois attorney general’s office after local developer Dan Mulcahy pitched the idea for “Metropolitan Place,” a three-story, 48-unit complex that would be built on vacant land owned by Mulcahy at Second and Reynolds streets.

Boer said, under Mulcahy’s proposal, the district would purchase the land and help finance construction. The possibility was raised of eventual district ownership and management of the units. The medical district has no funding of its own. Boer said Mulcahy believes outside funding could be found with district backing.

But he said it is only a concept until a legal opinion is rendered.

Even if the board has the authority, said Boer, many questions remain on the specifics of Mulcahy’s proposal.

“We haven’t got to that point,” Boer said. “We need to know if it’s even something we can pursue.”

Efforts to reach Mulcahy were unsuccessful. Mulcahy projects have run into financial problems in the past, including foreclosure and bankruptcy. Both legal cases were resolved after a new developer took over the Mulcahy projects. Most recently, he unsuccessfully backed conversion of the old Enos Elementary School to apartments.

The school since has been demolished.

Aside from Mulcahy’s proposal, Boer said housing for medical district residents and workers was among the founding missions of the district, which was created by an act of the state legislature in 2003. He said board interest also was piqued by a recent downtown housing study showing pent-up demand for apartments at existing market rates.

“It’s what we hear from the medical school and the hospitals,” Boer said. “There’s not a lot of options for housing for residents and employees of the hospitals within walking distance that’s average or above average in quality.”

The Mid-Illinois Medical District is bounded by North Grand Avenue and 11th, Walnut and Madison streets. Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Memorial Medical Center and St. John’s Hospital are all in the district, as are offices for Springfield Clinic doctors and a large residential area.

The housing study released in December by Bowen National Research, a consulting firm based in Ohio, concluded there is sufficient demand to support 1,700 more rental units downtown and in surrounding areas.

Growth in the medical district was among factors cited.

Results of the study have been shared with local developers, said Josh Collins, director of government relations for The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. The chamber helped coordinate the study.

Clarification: Springfield developer Dan Mulcahy resolved the foreclosure on a previous apartment project in the Enos Park neighborhood by selling to a new developer. The bankruptcy case was dismissed as a result. A previous version of this article did not make the outcome clear.